JPH0517169A - Forming mold setting mechanism - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To simultaneously set molds against a press handling mechanism and connect the mold electrically in change of the mold. CONSTITUTION:In a mold setting mechanism wherein a mold 1 is placed on a pallet 5 and the pallet 5 is set on a press molding position corresponding to a press handling mechanism 2, position setting members 61 to strike against the pallet 5 are fixed on the press molding position and connectors (53, 53A, 54 and 54A) to aim electric continuity of the mold 1 are installed in the guide direction of the pallet at a position of the pallet 5 and a position opposing the pallet to give a mold setting mechanism.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a molding die for setting a molding die at a press molding position corresponding to a press operating mechanism when a high precision optical element such as an aspherical lens is formed by a press molding device. It relates to a set mechanism.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, a method of directly press-molding a heat-softened molded glass material for optics in a molding die has been attracting attention, instead of an optical element processing method by grinding and polishing.

Usually, in this type of molding, a glass material in a softened state is pressed by using a molding die member that slides in the body die in the body die to correspond to the molding surface of the die member. An optical element press-molding device is used in which the optical functional surface is formed on the glass material. In this case, when the mold needs to be replaced due to damage to the mold, etc., the above-mentioned mold has a press-molding position corresponding to the press operating mechanism by an appropriate means so that the mold can be replaced easily in a short time. Carry in,
It is installed to match the press operation mechanism.

[0004]

However, when the molding die is positioned at the press molding position as described above,
It is necessary to realize matching between the press operating mechanism and the molding die, and to electrically connect the molding die for the purpose of heating the molding die. In particular, when press-molding in an atmosphere of an inert gas or the like, an operator cannot access the inside of the molding chamber due to the above electrical connection.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and when a mold is exchanged, the mold can be set with respect to a press operating mechanism and at the same time, an electrical connection can be realized. It is intended to provide a set mechanism.

[0006]

Therefore, according to the present invention,
A forming die setting mechanism in which a forming die is set on a pallet and the pallet is set at a press forming position corresponding to a press operation mechanism. In the press forming position, a position setting member for abutting the pallet is provided. At the same time, a connector for electrically conducting the mold in the introduction direction of the pallet is provided at the pallet and a position facing the pallet.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The case where the molding die setting mechanism of the present invention is applied to a press molding apparatus for optical elements shown in the drawings will be specifically described below. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the illustrated press-molding apparatus loads a glass material (glass blank) into a mold 1 and operates a press operation mechanism 2 to move a movable part (described later) of the mold 1. By press working, press molding is performed, and this press molding is preferably performed in an inert gas atmosphere such as a nitrogen gas atmosphere. For this purpose, the molding die 1, the press operation mechanism 2 and the like are installed in a molding chamber-3 having an airtight structure.

The molding chamber 3 is arranged on the pedestal 10 and is equipped with a gate valve 11 at an entrance / exit 301 for carrying in a glass material and carrying out a molded product, and communicated with the outside through the gate valve 11. ing. Further, a molding die exchange chamber-12 is disposed adjacent to the molding chamber-3 on the gantry 10, and the exchange chamber-12 is connected to the molding chamber-3 via a gate valve 13. It is in communication.

Further, in the molding chamber-3, a suction finger-4 is provided as a replacement means for introducing (carrying in) the glass material into the molding die 1 and for discharging (carrying out) the molded product. ing. The suction finger-4
Attaches the suction hand 402 to the upper end of the rotary shaft 401 which has penetrated the floor of the molding chamber-3 and is vertically introduced into the molding chamber-3 from the outside.
02 is provided with a suction pad 403 at the tip thereof, and the rotary shaft 401 is rotatably connected to a piston rod 14A of a cylinder mechanism 14 provided on the gantry 10, and is vertically moved in the axial direction by the operation of the piston rod 14A. In addition to being operated, it is rotated by an electric motor 15 provided on the piston rod 14A through a gear train 16.

However, the rotary shaft 4 based on the control of the cylinder mechanism 14 and the rotation control of the electric motor 15 while the glass material is sucked onto the suction pad 403.
With the axial movement and the turning movement of 01, the suction pad 4
03 was introduced into the molding die 1, a glass material was placed on the molding surface of the lower mold member 101, and after molding, it was introduced into the molding die 1 with the same suction pad 403 to adsorb the molded product. In this state, the rotary shaft 401 functions to be taken out from the inside of the molding die 1 by the axial movement and the rotation movement in the opposite direction.

A loading / unloading means 17 for loading and unloading the glass material and the molded product to and from the molding chamber 3 is arranged on the gantry 10 below the entrance 301. The carrying-in / carrying-out means 17 is replaced with a piston rod 18A extending upward from the cylinder mechanism 18 to replace the chamber.
171 is mounted and the exchange chamber-17
1 is equipped with a stand 172 that can be moved up and down through an opening 171A located at the upper end of the stand 1, and the stand 172 can be raised and lowered by an elevating means (for example, a piston / cylinder mechanism) 173 provided in the exchange chamber-171. I am doing it.

Therefore, when the glass material or the molded product is loaded into or unloaded from the molding chamber-3,
With the glass material placed on the stand 172, the piston rod 18A is raised by the control of the cylinder mechanism 18 to raise the exchange chamber-171 to open the opening 1
71A is brought into airtight contact with the gate valve 11. In this state, the inside of the exchange chamber-171 is replaced with a predetermined atmosphere, the gate valve 11 is opened, and the molding chamber-3 and the exchange chamber-171 are communicated with each other.
Further, the elevating means 173 introduces the stand 172 into the molding chamber-3, and transfers the glass material and the molded product to the suction finger-4. Then, after that, the elevating means 173 is operated in reverse, the stand 172 is returned to the exchange chamber-171, the gate valve 11 is closed, and the cylinder mechanism works.
The exchange chamber-171 is lowered and the table 17
It is possible to take out the molded product from No. 2 and bring in a new glass material into it.

In this embodiment, a required robot 19 is used to bring the glass material into the table 172 and take out the molded product from the table 172. The robot 19 is
Using a suction means or the like, the glass material is replaced from the stocker 20 to the table 172 and the table 1
The molded product is taken out from 72 to the required place. That is, the robot 19 has an X-axis arm 191 and a Y-axis arm 192, and the suction hands 193 provided on the Y-axis arm 192 are moved in the X and Y directions by the functions of the both arms. It can be moved in the axial direction. The stocker 20 has an electric motor 20B provided on a frame 20A and a pallet 20C fixed to the rotation shaft of the frame 20A. The electric motor 20B is driven to rotate the pallet 20C. The molded product is received and the glass material is delivered at a location corresponding to the robot 19. In this embodiment, a cooling table 21 is separately prepared, and the molded product taken out from the table 172 by the suction hand 193 is temporarily placed on the cooling table 21 to naturally or forcibly cool it to a desired temperature. ..

The above-mentioned forming die 1 is a forming die 100.
In addition, four sets of the lower mold member 101 and the upper mold member 102, which are distributed in four directions with respect to the center thereof, are vertically slidably incorporated into the four-cavity structure. In order to receive the glass material and take out the molded product, an opening / closing opening 100A is formed in the side portion of the body mold 100. Then, the body mold 100
Is placed and fixed on the pallet 5 in the molding chamber-3.

The pallet 5 corresponds to the exchange chamber-1.
2 through the guide rail 6A in 2
12 is guided through the gate valve 13 to the guide rail 6B laid in the molding chamber-3,
It is designed to be installed at a press molding position in the molding chamber-3. At the press-molding position, as shown in FIG. 3, position setting members 61, 61 such as pin guides with which the tip of the pallet 5 abuts, and similar position setting member 62 with which one side of the pallet 5 abuts,
62 are provided respectively. Further, in order to abut one side of the pallet 5 against the position setting members 62, 62, pressing operators 63, 64 are provided at opposing positions.

Further, in this embodiment, the constant temperature / heat insulating means 60 is prepared so that the pallet 5 is not thermally expanded under the influence of the ambient temperature. The constant temperature / heat insulating means 60
In this embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the heat insulating member 601 provided on the pallet 5 side and the cooling mechanism 6 positioned below the pallet 5 at the press molding position.
And 02.

The heat insulating member 601 is made of a plate-shaped ceramic material fitted into a flat receiving groove-shaped stage 51 formed on the upper surface of the pallet 5, and has a plurality of strip-shaped upper and lower surfaces. Fins 601A and 601B are formed.
Then, the mold 1 is placed on the pallet 1 on the heat insulating member 601 while being positioned by the guide pins 52 provided on the pallet 5.

The cooling mechanism 602 employs a water-cooled circulation cooling system, and the pallet 5 is shown in the figure.
Only the cooling section that is in contact with the bottom surface of the is shown.

In the above embodiment, the pallet 5 is provided at its tip end side with a power source connector 53 for heating on the side of the mold 1, and a connector 54 for a temperature sensor (not shown) such as a thermocouple. Corresponding to this, the power source side connector-53 is provided at a predetermined position inside the molding chamber.
A and a connector on the temperature detection device (not shown) side-
54A is provided.

The connector 53 is connected to a support block 531 made of an insulating material such as Teflon (trade name) as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, for example.
The pin 532 is penetrated and mounted through the terminal block 533 electrically connected to the pin 532 and the common connecting block 534 made of an insulating material similar to the above, and the connection hole 533A formed in the terminal block 533. A connector pin 535 is inserted into and removed from the molding die 1 side so as to be freely inserted and removed. Similarly, the connector 53A includes a support block 531A made of an insulating material, a female connector 532A, a terminal block 533A electrically connected thereto, and a common connecting block 5 made of an insulating material.
It is penetrated and attached through 34A.

Further, in order to prevent these connectors and the like from being affected by heat from the molding die 1 side, the connector pins 535 are provided at the tip of the pallet 5 in this embodiment.
A reflector 552 made up of an L-shaped plate member having an insertion hole 551 for passing therethrough is attached.

The pallet 5 introduced into the press molding position through the guide rail 6B, first, is pushed by the pressing operators 63 and 64 so that the side surfaces thereof are abutted against the position setting members 62 and 62. In that state, the tip end is abutted against the position setting members 61, 61. As a result, the molding die 1 on the pallet 5 can indirectly match the centers of the upper and lower mold members 101 and 102 with the center of the press operation of the press operation mechanism 2. In this case, the heat of the molding die 1 is shut off by the heat insulating member 601 of the pallet 5, and the cooling mechanism keeps the pallet 5 at a predetermined temperature. Since the relative position of the mold 1 is not affected by thermal expansion, it does not deviate from the regular press position.

The pallet 5 is also a guide rail 6B.
Is introduced into the press molding position along the
At the same time, the connector pin 532 is inserted into the female connector 532A when the position setting members 61, 61 are butted, and the electrical connection for temperature detection and temperature control with respect to the molding die 1 is achieved. You can do it.

In the press operating mechanism 2 described above, as shown in FIG. 1, an operating member 201 for pushing up is arranged below the guide rail 6B at the press forming position.
Further, four operation members 202 for pressing are arranged above the molding die 1 so as to correspond to the respective upper die members 102, and these are held by a common holder-block 203. The operation member 201 has a structure such that the upper end thereof can be inserted from the outside of the molding chamber-3 into the inside through an annular member 204 provided at the bottom of the molding chamber-3, and the lower end thereof. Is connected to a piston rod 206 extending upward from the cylinder mechanism 205 for pushing up. Further, the lower mold member 10 is provided on the upper end of the operation member 201.
1 has a push-up piece 207 common to the lower die member 101 while sliding on the body die 100.
Can be pushed up in common.

The operating member 202 is guided by a sliding portion provided at the lower end of the holder block 203 so that it can move up and down.
An elastic holding mechanism 208 provided inside 3 is elastically held downward so that it can move relative to the holder-block 203 to a predetermined position. In this embodiment, the elastic holding mechanism 208 has a structure in which disc springs are stacked, but any other suitable mechanism or structure may be used.

A common rod 209 is connected to the upper end of the holder block 203, and the common rod 209 is connected.
Is connected to a piston rod 211 that extends through the ceiling of the molding chamber-3, extends from the inside to the outside, and extends downward from a pressing cylinder mechanism 210 arranged at the top of the molding chamber-3. Has been done.

When the glass material is press-molded by using the press operation mechanism 2, the holder block 20 is first operated by the cylinder mechanism 210.
3 is raised and the upper mold member 102 is pulled up, so-called,
Form a mold. Then, when the glass material is introduced into the molding die 1 by the above-mentioned suction hand 402 and the holder block 203 is lowered again, the upper die member 102 is moved.
Falls on the glass material. After that, the cylinder mechanism 210 is further operated, and the holder-block 20
3 is lowered, the operation member 202 is moved to the upper mold member 1
Press pressure is applied to 02. After the upper mold member 102 pushes it all the way through, the cylinder mechanism 205 operates the operation member 201 during the cooling process.
Is pushed up and the lower die member 101 is pushed upward through the push-up piece 207 to secure the R surface. Further, after molding, the cylinder mechanism 210 is operated to operate the holder-block 20.
When 3 is lifted, the upper mold member 102 is lifted to open the mold.

The mold changing chamber 7 is equipped with a mold changing means 7. Forming die exchanging means 7
Is equipped with a replacement means 701, whereby the pallet 5 on which the molding die 1 is placed and fixed along the guide rail 6A is transferred to the inside of the molding chamber-3 via the gate valve 13. It is designed to be transferred to the guide rail 6B.

The exchanging means 701 has a connecting hand 703 attached to the tip of a rod 702 extending into the mold exchanging chamber 12, and an actuator 705 attached to the base end thereof via a thrust bearing 704. Further, the motor 706 mounted on the actuator 705 is configured to rotate the rod 702 via the L-shaped crank 707.
Further, when the actuator 705 is driven, the actuator 705 is moved along a guide rail 708 arranged in parallel with the rod 702 so that the rod 702 can be moved in its longitudinal direction. It is configured.

Therefore, the rod 702 is rotated by the operation of the motor 706, and the engaging / disengaging operation of the connecting hand 703 with respect to the pallet 5 is performed by this operation, and the operation of the actuator 705 is performed. Then, the pallet 5 above,
It can move along the guide rail 6A.
In this embodiment, a hook member 56 is provided at the rear end of the pallet 5 side as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, corresponding to the coupling hand 703. The joining hand 703 can be engaged and disengaged. Thereby, by the control of the exchanging means 701, the pallet 5 is brought to the guide rail 6B of the molding chamber-3 through the gate valve 13 and set to the press position of the press operation mechanism 2, or Conversely, it can be pulled back from there to the mold change chamber-12.

Further, the mold exchanging means 7 is provided with a pallet replacing means 711 for moving the pallet 5. The pallet replacing means 711 is a piston rod 71 that advances and retracts in a direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the guide rail 6A.
A cylinder mechanism 712 equipped with 2A is installed on one side of the mold changing chamber-12, and two stages 713A and 713 are provided at the tip of the piston rod 712A.
The feed base 713 having B is attached. Each of the stages 713A and 713B is equipped with the above-mentioned guide rail 6A. In addition, on the other side of the mold changing chamber-12, there is an opening for taking in and out the mold 1, and a door 12A is provided there.

Then, the door 12A is opened in advance, the cylinder mechanism 712 is operated, and the feed table 713 is pushed out from the opening of the mold changing chamber-12, and, for example, in the stage 713A. On the guide rail 6A,
Place the pallet 5 with the new mold 1, and
The cylinder mechanism 712 is operated in reverse, and the feed table 71 is
2 is returned to the cylinder mechanism 712 side, the door 12A is closed, and the gas in the mold changing chamber-12 is replaced. In this state, The guide rail 6A of the stage 713B is located at the center (pallet changing position) of the mold changing chamber-12.

Therefore, by the function of the replacing means 701,
From the molding chamber-3, the used molding die 1 can be taken out together with the pallet 5 on which it has been placed onto an empty stage 713B. Further, thereafter, the cylinder mechanism 712 is operated to position the stage 713A in the center of the mold changing chamber 12, and the exchanging means 701 is operated again to perform molding from above the guide rail 6A. The new mold 1 can be transferred to the guide rail 6B of the chamber 3 together with the pallet 5, and can be set at the press position of the press operation mechanism 2. The used mold 1 can be taken out from the pallet 5 by opening the door 12A after replacing the new mold 1 with the molding chamber-3.

[0034]

As described above, according to the present invention, a position setting member for abutting a pallet is provided at the press molding position, and electrical continuity is provided for the molding die in the introduction direction of the pallet. Since the pallet is provided in the pallet and the position facing the pallet, it is possible to achieve an effect that the electric connection can be realized simultaneously with the setting of the molding die with respect to the press operation mechanism when the molding die is replaced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic front view of a press molding apparatus showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view of the press molding apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a main part of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a side view showing a main part of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a side view showing a part of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an end view showing a portion of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Molding die 100 Cylinder die 101 Lower die member 102 Upper die member 2 Press operation mechanism 3 Molding chamber-4 Adsorption finger-5 Pallet 53, 53A connector-54, 54A connector-60 Constant temperature / heat insulating means 601 Heat insulating member 602 Cooling mechanism 61 , 62 Position setting member 63 Push operator

Claims (1)

Claims: 1. A molding die setting mechanism in which a molding die is set on a pallet and the pallet is set at a press molding position corresponding to a press operating mechanism. And a connector for locating the pallet against the pallet, and a connector for electrically connecting a molding die in the introduction direction of the pallet to the pallet and a position facing the pallet. Mold forming set mechanism.